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Reflux?

Hello again! I keep posting questions here, thanks for answering them for me, you all are so nice.

Does anyone know what the classic signs of reflux are in newborns? My ped said that might be something to look out for in these next two weeks before his next appt and I'm not sure I remember what he said to look for! I feel stupid saying that, but I was overwhelemed at this appt with my ds being so uncomfortable and all. The ped was giving me several things that could be making ds uncomfortable and I didn't take notes....

He's been having a few milk spit-ups with some screaming beforehand. But not tons of spit up and not many times a day (2-3 times a day?) Today especially he seems to be really liking laying on his back, too. Weird.

Thank you for any help you can give! Hopefully someday I can give help to others on this site but for now with a 3 week old baby and never having had one before, I feel like I'm a terrible mom because I can't help my ds feel any more comfortable.

Re: Reflux?

Hello Wendy,

I have a four month old son who was also diagnosed with reflux around the same age as yours. So although I am a first time mom I will try to help you through what my ds went through.

He would eat alright for a few minutes and then pull off and scream, I could tell that he was still hungry and he would try to go back on but would continue screaming, pulling on and off the breast. That was when he was a younger but now if I forget to give him his meds he will outrightly refuse to eat at all.

That is strange that your son doesn't mind being on his back because they say that most babies with reflux do not like being on their back, but mine never minded either.

He would also cough and choke quite a bit while eating, stuffy noses are another indication. Just general cold like symptoms.

As for spitting up my son rarely spits up, I guess some babies can have silent reflux where they never spit up at all. So how much they do spit up is not necessarily an indication. There are a lot of babies that spit up all the time and do not have reflux.

I don't know if any of this helps, I sometimes still find myself wondering if my son has reflux. I do not like him being on the meds at all. So I have tried time and again to take him off of them and I am dealing with the same things over again.

Re: Reflux?

Good luck, Wendy. I already messaged you this morning, but I'll post that when my daughter had it, it was totally different than what my son is doing now. (the grunting, gas pains, etc) With the reflux, she had inconsolable screaming, arching of the back, throwing her head, etc. With feeding, she'd act like she wanted to eat, then she'd pull away. She did not have spitting up, because she had what they called "Silent Reflux." She went on some baby zantac, and I weaned her off at about 9 months old. She' been fine since. As I said, I think Jack has something completely different, which is what made me spot your post yesterday about the gas/grunting. He will not scream/cry really. He just has that loud awful grunting, pulling up his legs, and he seems to get some relief when he poops, but I don't hear a lot of toots from him (wish I did.) I'm anxious to see how this gripe water works. Anyway good luck to you and Aaron. I think these poor little infants have such a rough time at the start. It could be a combination of things, you know? Hang in there!

Re: Reflux?

My daughter has been diagnosed with reflux. She has been on the baby zantac for about 3 weeks now and it has made a huge difference. She spit up a lot, but she also had a lot of 'wet burps' where she would burp, nothing would come out as far as spit up, but you could hear that there was something there, and then she would just swallow it back down. She would eat, but she was constantly screaming in-between feedings. (I think nursing soothed her throat). Sometimes she would burp and just scream afterwards. At first the Dr. thought maybe it was colic, but when she observed my fussy baby in the office and I told her it was all day long every day, and all the other symptoms, she agreed that we should try some meds. She also refused to lay on her back...the second I laid her down she would scream. She also would be choking and coughing a lot...from the stuff she was burping up. I think one of the other symptoms is that they often have stuffy noses and things? Don't quote me on that one, but it seems like that was one symptom. Anyhow...hang in there...I know it is tough with a fussy baby! My first I am sure had reflux, but I didn't know anything about it at the time and it was terrible!! Keep reaching out for support, it really helps a lot during the difficult times. Hope this helps, and I hope you get it all figured out!

Re: Reflux?

My son would not spit up but scream and pull off when he tried to nurse. I had read that dairy was sometime as cause for reflux and I eliminated all signs of dairy. Wheay powder is in everything and difficult to avoid but it can be done. I missed it when I started but now I don't since my db is now eating well (at 2 months, started when my milk came in) without any medication. It did take about 2 weeks for my body to eliminate all the milk proteins but it got better after about a week and a half. I will start trying to add it back into my diet though when he is about 4 months since his intestines will be more mature. That way the anti-bodies to do with the milk proteins that he gets from me will help him to tolorate dairy when he starts eating solid food. I found him to be very gassy still though after eliminating milk and found that dropping wheat as well has helped. Feel free to e-mail me for any tips on getting through on dairy-free. Good luck!